


The Break In

by Northern_Lady



Series: Unfinished Marvel Tales [7]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Father-Daughter Relationship, Geniuses, Mutant Powers, Past Abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-18
Updated: 2018-06-18
Packaged: 2019-05-24 23:59:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14964731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Northern_Lady/pseuds/Northern_Lady
Summary: Someone breaks into Tony's house just because she has always wanted to meet him.





	The Break In

**Author's Note:**

> Again, as the other stories in this series, this story has been sitting unfinished on my computer for a long time and I am unsure when I will resume writing it. Any similarities in character names to characters in my other stories is unintentional and unrelated.

Tony Stark was woken from a sound sleep by the sound of Jarvis’ voice. 

“I’m sorry to wake you Mr Stark but I must inform you there has been a breach of security at the front gate,” Jarvis said. 

Tony groaned. He didn’t want to be awake. He didn’t want to deal with a break-in. He dragged himself out of bed anyway and picked up a tablet at the bedside table. “Show me what’s happening, Jarvis.” 

The tablet gave him a view of the front gate. Someone was climbing the fence. 

“Why aren’t the alarms going off?” Tony asked, frustrated. 

“She, the intruder, disabled them,” Jarvis replied. 

“Well, turn them back on. I shouldn’t have to deal with this. That’s why I’ve hired security in the first place,” Tony said. 

“I’m afraid I can’t do that Sir.” 

“You can’t turn the alarms on?” Tony wondered how this could have happened. 

“All I am able to do is monitor the situation. The intruder has disabled all my other functions.” 

“What the hell?” Tony reached for his suit. 

Once assembled he headed towards the front door. By the time he reached the door she was already inside. She saw him coming and froze. Tony was in no rush to get to her. He walked the length of the hallway and stopped in front of her to find that his intruder was a teenage of girl maybe thirteen or fourteen years old. She had dark hair with bits of purple in her braid, brown eyes, and several bruises on her fair skin. There were defensive wounds on both arms, a bruise on her collarbone, and another on her cheekbone. She looked less like a thief and more like a frightened kid on the run. 

“What the hell are you doing in my house?” He asked, not in a good mood. 

“Hiding,” She said, a mixture of defiant and timid. 

She didn’t seem to have any weapons so he stepped out of the suit. “What makes you think that breaking into my house is the way to hide?” 

“I hoped you’d help me.” She said, anxiously. 

“Look, just because IronMan helps people sometimes doesn’t mean every kid off the street can be sheltered here. If someone hurt you, you need to call the police. I’m not the person to help you.” Tony said, just wanting her to leave so he could go back to bed, 

“You are...because you’re my father.” She said quietly. 

“What?” This was a first. 

“My mother was Pati Denver. Do you remember her?” The girl asked him. 

“Anybody could have found my past girlfriends on the internet. It doesn’t mean…” He said, but trailed off, doubting himself as he said it. Pati had contacted him once some thirteen years ago and told him he’d had a daughter. He assumed she only wanted money and had ignored her. 

“Then do a DNA test. If I’m wrong, I’ll never bother you again. If you don’t do the test, I’ll just break in again until you do. Obviously, I know how to get around your security already.” She said, a little testy. 

Tony sighed. “Fine. Jarvis can do it in only a few minutes. Come on.” 

The girl followed him to the lab, her arms crossed protectively across herself as if she were still genuinely afraid of something. Tony took a blood sample from himself and from her and put the vials inside the proper machine. 

“What’s your name anyway?” He asked her while the test was being processed. 

“Darcy. Darcy Denver. It’s a stupid name.” She said. 

Tony shrugged. “No worse than Anthony...what about your mom? How is Pati?” 

“She died. She died when I was a baby. Car accident. I don’t even remember her.” Darcy said, she didn’t seem sad about it. 

“Mr Stark, the test is complete,” Jarvis spoke up. 

“Okay, lay it on me,” Tony said, not really sure what to expect.” 

“The results show a 99% match. Darcy is your biological daughter, Mr Stark.” 

Stunned, Tony glanced over at Darcy. She burst into tears and hugged herself even tighter than before. Tony took a moment to gather his thoughts and then turned to her. 

“Who gave you those bruises? Was that what you wanted help with?” He asked her. 

She nodded, still trying to compose herself. “It was my Uncle Greg. My mom had a sister Lucy. I went to live with her when mom died. A few years ago Lucy married Greg… She goes away on a lot of long business trips. She’s hardly ever home and...I tried once to tell her what he does to me when she’s gone, how he gets drunk and angry. He doesn't drink when she’s home. She thinks he doesn't drink at all so she didn't believe it...and she threw me out. I spent three weeks homeless in the middle of the winter. I got so cold and hungry that the only thing I could do was apologize and say it never happened so they’d let me live there again.” 

“I assume you tried calling the police when he was in one of these drunken rages?” 

“Uncle Greg is the police. He told all his cop buddies that I am just a spoiled brat so when I call the police… no one shows up.” Darcy explained. 

“Well, I am gonna check into your story, see if you're telling me the truth. If it turns out you are, then somehow or other your Uncle isn't gonna hurt you again. In the meantime we should call your Aunt and tell her where you are.” 

“I guess that's fair,” she said. 

“Yeah, it is fair because in spite of dna you're still a stranger and you still broke into my house. How exactly did you do that anyway?” he asked her. 

“That was easy, look,” she reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a tablet. “Line 32 of your code…it’s flawed.” 

“My program is not flawed,” Tony said, snatching the tablet out of her hand. He took a look at line 32 which was indeed flawed. “Huh.” 

“I told you,” Darcy said. 

“It’s not a flaw so much as a glitch.” Tony argued. 

“No. A glitch is more of a hardware problem. This was clearly a programming flaw. It’s not even the only one. Look at line 61. I could have shut Jarvis down completely but I didn't because I like him.” 

“I don’t think so. Line 61 is…” Tony began but Darcy reached over and typed in something on his screen. “Where the hell did you learn to do that?” 

Darcy shrugged. “Here and there.” 

“Well it looks like University of Here and There taught you wrong. Scroll down and see how that thing you just did effects line 84.” 

Darcy scrolled down like he told her to. “Oh. It shouldn’t do that.” 

“Yes, it should do that because that’s exactly what I programmed it to do.” 

She shook her head. “No, I can fix it.” 

“No, you can’t. This is advanced programming. It’s not something you can learn out of your Mom’s basement with youtube tutorials.” Tony said, irritated. 

“I don’t have a Mom, remember?” She said as she angrily tore her tablet out of his hands and then she set to work fixing her mistake. Thirty seconds later she handed the tablet back to him, tears in her eyes. 

Tony looked down to see what she had done. “This is an adequate fix,” He admitted. 

“Adequate?” She asked, a little upset. 

“Yes, adequate. It’s almost the same as competent, tolerable, unobjectionable… should I get out my thesaurus?” 

“No,” Darcy said, her arms were crossed across her middle and she was actually starting to cry. 

“Let me guess, most people think you’re a genius?” Tony asked her. “No one ever tells you you’re wrong?” 

“That’s because I AM a genius! I have an IQ of 150!” Darcy was angry and crying. 

“What you have is an attitude problem.” Tony said. He wasn’t angry, just honest. 

Darcy took a step back. “This was a mistake.” She stuffed her tablet in her jacket pocket and took off down the hall towards the front door. 

Tony realized he had been too harsh. “Darcy wait…” He called after her. 

She stopped but she didn’t turn back. Tony caught up to her and found her wiping tears off of the bruise on her face. “If you run out of here where are you gonna go?” He asked her. “I take it your Uncle is drunk tonight? Those bruises are recent.” 

“You want to see how my Uncle was tonight?” She took her tablet back out and pulled up some video footage. “I took this with a mini camera pinned to my shirt. I turned on the camera when he started drinking.” 

Tony watched footage of what was at first just Darcy’s homework. She wasn’t kidding about her IQ but he had known that anyway. There was no way she could have had a clue about his security system unless she were highly intelligent. Her homework seemed to be Calculus. She was working through the problems rather quickly when something crashed in a nearby room. The crash was followed by shouting, a man shouting for Darcy to come to him right now. The camera showed her trembling hands as she reached for the doorknob and went to him. Greg, a muscular man in his forties, dressed in jeans and a polo shirt was sprawled out in a recliner with a beer. He demanded that Darcy bring him a sandwich. She did that and went back to her room, locking the door behind her, and then pushing her dresser in front of the door. She finished the calculus and took a book from her shelf by Stephen Hawking to read. A short time later Greg was at the door pounding and shouting. He eventually broke the lock and knocked over the dresser. What followed was rather brutal and it was difficult for Tony to watch. He did watch it though, all the way to the point where Greg passed out and Darcy ran out of the house. Feeling sick, Tony passed the tablet back to her. 

“I think I should take you to a hospital. Looks like he hit you hard enough to break some ribs.” Tony said. 

“I’m fine. I’ve been hurt worse. Really.” 

“Well you can’t go back there tonight. At least let me call your Aunt and tell her where you are.” He had to do at least that much. 

Tony knew that good old Aunt Lucy wasn’t going to like being woken up at 2AM during her business trip but he didn’t care. This was too important. 

“Hello?” The woman said, tired and confused as she picked up her phone. 

“Hello, this is Tony Stark.” He said, waiting to see how she would respond to that. 

“Oh shit. Is Darcy there bothering you?” Lucy said, suddenly more awake and seemingly angry. 

“What do you know about it?” Tony asked. 

“Is she there or not?” Lucy insisted. 

“Yeah, she’s here and she’s pretty bruised up. You know anything about that?” 

“Oh. My. God.” Lucy was annoyed rather than concerned. “She’s faking. The bruises probably wash right off or else she got them from that Chad kid. He is trouble. Darcy is just obsessed with trying to meet you and has been for four years. She’ll do anything... I’m sorry she bothered you Mr Stark. Just send her home. It won’t happen again.” 

“Four years you say?” Tony asked, something wasn’t adding up. “Why would she do that?” 

“Because that’s when I married Greg. Darcy hated him from the beginning. I wanted him to adopt her and she refused. She said she already had a father and at least her real father wasn’t stupid. Now I told her, Mr Stark, to leave you alone. I threw out the letters she sent. I cut off internet access five times because she thought she was hacking into Stark Industries. I told her that all that crap she’s been studying was not gonna get her any closer, that her studies would be better spent on her future career than trying to get in contact with her father.” Lucy rattled off. 

“Wait? You knew that I was her father and you refused to allow her to contact me and never did anything to tell me she even existed?” Tony said, finding that he really did not like this woman. 

“We don’t need your money Stark.” Lucy said, offended. “I have a GOOD job since I left Stark Industries. We don’t need you in our lives in any way.” 

“Clearly I don’t need you either, or you’d still work for me, but just maybe Darcy needed a father. Did you even think of that?” 

“My sister tried to tell you about Darcy and you weren’t interested. How much time was I supposed to waste trying to track you down?” Lucy argued. 

“I thought she wanted money. I thought she just made up a story to get money. It wouldn’t have been so difficult for you to have tried to contact me at least once in the last fourteen fucking years, would it?” 

Nancy sighed audibly. “Darcy needs to be home by Monday. Maybe if she sees you for the weekend she’ll get it out of her system. If you don’t want her there then feel free to send her home now. Otherwise...Monday. Good night Mr Stark.” Lucy hung up the phone. Tony hung up as well. 

Darcy stood watching him, waiting to see what he would do. She looked, battered, and worried, and utterly worn out. 

“You look exhausted,” Tony said. “Have you been up all night?” 

She nodded. 

“I have a bedroom you can use. Come on.” He led the way to one of his spare rooms. 

Darcy stopped in the doorway before entering the room. “So this means you believe me?” 

“Of course I believe you,” Tony said. 

At those words, Darcy burst into tears. Then she took a step closer and she hugged him. Tony was a little surprised at the gesture but he hugged her in return anyway. He wasn’t heartless enough to refuse. “Thank you…” Darcy breathed the words. 

Tony didn't know what to think at this point. Darcy was obviously depending on him to keep her safe from her alcoholic uncle. She had probably been hoping for her Dad to rescue her for a long time. Maybe more than that too since her Aunt seemed to have no appreciation at all for Darcy’s intelligence. He got the distinct impression that Lucy didn't approve of any of her niece’s creative endeavors. She probably didn’t quite comprehend what Darcy was even working on most of the time. The evidence seemed to indicate that Darcy had wanted to contact him because she wanted a family member who was not only smart enough to actually help her with her homework, but who could share her creative projects. Not only had this kid been afraid for a long time. She had probably been pretty lonely too. Darcy was still crying, emotionally shaken by the events of the night and Tony hugged her a little more firmly before letting her go to say good night. 

Tony went back to his room but he didn’t really sleep the rest of the night. He couldn’t even think about trying. The sun came up and Tony tried to find something to do to occupy his time. It was a Saturday morning. He didn’t need to be at work and Darcy needed to sleep. Around 10AM he wandered into his living room and found her sitting on one of his sofas curled up hugging her knees and looking worried. 

“You’re awake,” He said, stating the obvious. 

She nodded. “You have a police car parked outside. It’s Uncle Greg’s cruiser number on the side.” 

“Great. I guess I’d better go deal with that.” Tony said. “What do you want me to tell him?” 

“You’re leaving it up to me?” Darcy asked, clearly not expecting anything like that from him. 

“Well, I’ve had a few hours to think about all this. I didn’t expect to have a daughter and in spite of all your efforts to get here, I’m not convinced I’ll make a very good father, but if you want to be here then I want you here too.” He told her. “So the question is, am I gonna go tell your Uncle that you’re staying for the weekend and you’ll be back Monday after school? Or do I tell I’ll see him in court for the custody hearing?” 

“I...can’t go back there. He scares me…” Darcy whispered. 

“Okay,” Tony said with a nod. “Then I’m off to make him go away.” 

Greg stepped out of his cruiser and casually leaned against the hood when he was Tony coming. 

“What seems to be the problem, officer?” Tony asked. 

“Don’t play games with me Stark,” Greg said. “Where is she?” 

“Darcy is in the house. She doesn’t want to see you.” Tony told him. 

“You can’t just keep her in there. That would be kidnapping. I could have an entire squadron over there to get her back,” Greg threatened. 

“I’m seeing several problems with that scenario, Gregory. First of all, Iron Man would have no struggle with sending away few police officers. Secondly, if you call any of your buddies to try and get her back, I will make sure that everyone in this entire city sees the video footage of what you did to her last night,” 

“Video footage?” Greg sounded a little worried. 

“I’m not finished. Thirdly, if you want to fight me in court to get her back, I will win because I have more money, better lawyers, evidence against you, and because Darcy is old enough that the judge will let her decide where she wants to live. So I suggest you get back in your car and go play cops and robbers somewhere else.” 

“Why do you even want her here anyway?” Greg said as he opened the door to his cruiser. “She’s useless.” 

“If she’s so useless, why are you trying to get her back?” 

“Lucy promised her sister she’d take care of the kid and she intends to finish the job. This isn’t over Stark.” Greg said as he climbed into his car and drove away. 

“Well?” Darcy asked Tony when he returned to the house and found her waiting in the place he had left her. 

“He’s gone for now. I think might see him again in court...but he’s gone…” 

Darcy breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you…” She said, tears coming to her eyes. She brushed them away angrily with her sleeve. 

Tony crossed the room and sat down next to her on the sofa. He could tell by the way she leaned a little closer to him that she wanted to hug him but she was apparently unwilling to be the first one to offer a hug a second time. Her face was still bruised as was her collarbone and there were still multiple cuts on her arms. In spite of being more intelligent than most adults, Darcy was still just a scared kid. 

“It’s gonna be okay,” Tony said, putting his arm around her. “You don’t have to go back there anymore.” 

Darcy turned towards him and hugged him and let her head rest against his chest. Tony put both arms around her and just let her cry for as long as she needed to. It was a long while before she was calm and even then, she was in no hurry to let go of him. He could mostly understand why. Even though he barely knew her, he knew she was smart, and he knew he liked her. She seemed like a good kid and if he were going to have a daughter, he knew he’d need to make an effort to do these things like hug her and spend time with her and not forget birthdays. He had never been good at relationships of any sort. He wasn’t going to mess this one up. So he he just stayed where he was and hugged his daughter for as long as she needed him. 

“I’m gonna send some of my security detail over to your house to get your stuff,” Tony said after a while. “In the meantime I’ve got a project in my lab you might be interested in helping with.” 

She sat up and looked at him a little stunned. “Really?” 

“Yeah, why not?” 

“Aunt Lucy hates my science projects. She’s always yelling at me to be more normal and go to the mall or watch TV. I know she’s just mad that I’m smarter than she is but...she acts like she’s ashamed of me. On her nicer days she calls me weird and eccentric. Most days she just calls me a freak… you’re really gonna let me help?” 

“The more I know about your Aunt Lucy, the less I like her. Yeah, you can help. Come on.” 

Tony and Darcy spent the majority of the day in his lab. She loved it there and actually was helpful. She was more helpful than any of the Avengers might have been with the exception of Bruce Banner. It was actually really nice to work with someone who understood what he was talking about and didn’t need it broken down into easier terms. Late that morning his security detail returned with Darcy’s belongings and they took a break to eat and to let her change and unpack. That afternoon they were back in the lab again. He learned a lot about her over the course of the day. He learned her birthdate and that in a few weeks she would turn fourteen. He learned that she was actually a Senior in High School and even that work was too easy but Aunt Lucy had refused to let her advance ahead any more than she already was. Darcy had one friend, Chad, who was just a neighbor and a geek. Chad was fifteen, home schooled and according to Darcy, was really smart. Plus, he not only accepted Darcy as she was, but would help her to hide out in his garage sometimes when her Uncle was drinking. Tony also learned that Darcy was highly focused on her work, almost like he was. She could easily lose herself in a project and not speak for hours. 

As evening neared, Tony realized he’d forgotten about dinner. Darcy didn’t seem to bothered by that. She was still fascinated with building her own small arc reactor. 

“I think we should eat,” Tony spoke up, breaking her concentration. 

“Right. I forgot about that too,” Darcy said, a little disappointed to leave the lab. 

“This stuff will all be here later. Besides, I also forgot that Steve is coming over tonight,” Tony glanced at his watch. “He’ll be here in twenty minutes with paperwork.” 

“Steve Rogers?” Darcy asked. 

“Yeah, don’t tell me you have a crush on Captain America?” Tony said. 

“No…” Darcy said, a little annoyed. “He’s like eighty years old.” 

“So not a Captain America fan? There’s gotta be someone you’re a fan of,” He said as he headed towards the kitchen, Darcy followed him. “Who is it? Bieber? One Direction?” 

Darcy was staring at him like he was nuts. “Those guys are just dumb singers.” 

“Ah, so you’re more a of a Bruce Banner fan.” 

“I’m not a fan of anyone,” Darcy said but if the blush on her face was any indication, he had pretty much hit the nail on the head. She liked smart people. He couldn’t blame her for that. It was easier to relate to people who understood you. 

The tablet that Darcy carried in her pocket made a ping and she took it out to check her message. “It’s Chad. He wants to know where I am since he already found out I’m not at Aunt Lucy’s. Can he come over here?” 

“Sure. Why not?” Tony couldn’t believe his house was turning into a teen hub but he wasn’t going to deny Darcy access to her friends. 

A short time later Steve was at the door and Tony knew he was going to have to explain what the teenage girl was doing in his house. “I’m gonna get the door. Wait here.” Tony told Darcy. 

Steve was waiting patiently at the front door carrying a brown manila envelope. 

“I have news.” Tony told him the moment he opened the door, just wanting to get it over with. 

“Don’t tell me you’re having a baby?” Steve joked at Tony’s seriousness. 

“Actually, that’s not so far from the truth. I have a guest. A guest who also happens to be my daughter. I didn’t know she existed until yesterday when she broke into my house and informed me of it.” Tony explained. 

“Wow,” Steve said, stepping inside. “So she got through your security and broke into your house? How do you know she really is who she says she is?” 

“Because she got through my security system and broke into my house,” Tony said, “Who else would be smart enough to do that? Also I did a DNA test.” 

Tony and Steve joined Darcy in the kitchen when the doorbell rang a second time. “That would be Chad, Darcy’s friend.” 

Darcy rushed hurriedly out of the kitchen and down the hallway at the sound of the doorbell. She opened the door, took one look at Chad and stopped short. “You didn’t?” She said anxiously. “Please tell me you didn’t?” 

Tony moved to the doorway of the kitchen where he could see what was going on and found not some skinny home school nerd like he had expected but a regular teenage boy in jeans and t-shirt who looked like he’d spent his entire life chopping wood. He was a tough looking kid but what stood out the most was the recent black eye. 

Chad looked down a little sheepishly and then back up at her. “I did. I had to.” 

“I told you not to!” Darcy stepped closer and was yelling at him, “How many times have I told you not to? You never listen to me! You can’t hit a cop. You’re gonna end up in prison…” 

“I don’t care. How many more years am I supposed to just stand by and watch your Uncle beat the shit out of you? How many?” Chad demanded, as emotional as she was. “He’s in the hospital now. If prison is what I get out if, it’s totally worth it.” 

Darcy crossed her arms across herself, still angry with Chad. “You could have died. He always carries a gun. He might have killed you.” 

“He tried,” Chad admitted. “The good news is I found out what my mutant gene is for,” he said with half a grin. “Apparently I’m bulletproof.” 

“That's not funny.” Darcy said. 

“I wasn't joking. He didn't punch me in the face. He shot me. And here too…” he lifted his shirt to reveal another bruise over his heart.

Tony was pretty sure he liked this kid. He had guts. Also, he didn’t meet mutants very often. He might like to know more about how this gene of his worked. 

Darcy wasn’t impressed with Chad’s heroics at all. 

“Are you kidding? You could be dead! That’s why I told you not to help me! You promised me…” She said, her voice breaking. 

“Look, I went by your house this afternoon. You weren’t there. Your room was trashed. There was blood on the floor. I thought he’d killed you,” Chad said. “But then he came home for lunch and tried to talk to me like everything was fine. He said you were out but he wouldn’t say where. Then he got a beer out of the fridge and I just lost it. I snapped. I’m sorry.” 

“Doesn’t sound like he has anything to be sorry for,” Tony told Darcy who was still angry. “Sounds like he was trying look out for a friend.” 

“He always tries to look out for me. One of these times he is gonna get himself killed.” Darcy argued. 

“Doesn't look like it,” Steve commented. “Those bruises are already healing.” 

“You guys are on his side?” Darcy said, with disbelief, as she moved towards the kitchen and Chad followed her. 

“I’m on your side,” Tony said. “But look at you Darcy. You’re five feet tall, a hundred pounds, and covered in cuts and bruises. I saw your Uncle outside this morning and he was easily six feet tall, two hundred and twenty pounds and didn’t have a scratch on him. Anyone who cares about you isn’t gonna be able to stand by and let him do what he’s been doing. Even if he didn’t know what his mutant gene would do, Chad here is five ten, a hundred and seventy pounds, he had a better chance than you did.” 

“But he could have been killed…” Darcy said, tears in her eyes. 

“I’m pretty sure he knows that,” Tony said. “Apparently, he thought you were worth the risk.” 

Darcy looked angry, then she burst into tears and fled the room, leaving Chad standing there with Tony and Steve. 

“Girls…” Chad said, shaking his head. “They don’t make any sense.” 

“I’m afraid it doesn’t change much, even as they get older,” Tony said. “So about this mutant gene of yours…?” 

“Yeah, Darcy and I tested my DNA a few years back when she was trying to learn more about the science of genetics. We found out I had a mutation but I didn’t know what it was until today.” Chad explained.


End file.
